Endocrine effects of lithium. III. Hypermagnesaemia and activation of the renin-aldosterone system.

Hypermagnesaemia is a well-known but as yet unexplained concomitant of lithium treatment. Prior suggestions implicating a role for aldosterone in magnesium homoeostasis prompted this study of plasma renin, plasma aldosterone and serum magnesium in 17 maniodepressive patients on long-term lithium treatment. In addition to hypermagnesaemia (P less than 0.001), this group of patients had raised plasma levels of aldosterone (P less than 0.001) and increased plasma renin concentration (P less than 0.05). Serum magnesium was positively correlated to plasma aldosterone (r = 0.58, P less than 0.02). The relation between activation of the renin-aldosterone system and the presence of hypermagnesaemia during chronic lithium treatment could conceivably be mediated through a lithium-induced hypovolaemic state.